Testing the 135gr Apex-Outdoors Afterburners

[yorke-1]

It is aluminum, and I believe it has been hardened or just a harder alloy like 7075 vs 6061.

Fun fact, the tips will actually expand if they have a high enough impact velocity. This is a 135gr Afterburner I pulled from a stack of leather at 240 yards. The impact velocity was in the 3250 fps range.

 

[wilkup]

Fun fact, the tips will actually expand if they have a high enough impact velocity. This is a 135gr Afterburner I pulled from a stack of leather at 240 yards. The impact velocity was in the 3250 fps range.

It’s basically a copper Partition with super high BC!

 

[Petey308]

Fun fact, the tips will actually expand if they have a high enough impact velocity. This is a 135gr Afterburner I pulled from a stack of leather at 240 yards. The impact velocity was in the 3250 fps range.

Looks like it got compressed. Leather pushing on one side, the rest of the bullet pushing from the other side. Until it blew up the front of the bullet lol. Definitely not something you really see with a polymer tip lol.

 

[mcdil]

It’s basically a copper Partition with super high BC!

There's more than a fair bit of truth to that statement during the design phase. One of the bullets, if not THE bullet that started the terminal performance race. Whether John Nosler meant for the sides of the Partition to fold back or not under normal conditions, I'm not aware. Many used to bad mouth that particular feature seeking a larger diameter mushroom with better weight retention instead. I'm not sure if those two criteria were a couple of the main driving forces in the creation of the Swift A-Frame or not, but it certainly accomplishes that.

However, the Partition just continued to display a lot of trauma and extreme levels of straight-line penetration, at least compared to offerings back then. Most wrote off the trauma only to how quickly the nose blew apart (Afterburner does this as well). No doubt, that was part of it, but the base's finished geometry played a role in that as well, even if most of us, me included didn't fully understand that at the time.

To say we were trying to mimic the basic function of the Partition with a lead-free option while paying very close attention to BC, bore fouling behavior, and accuracy potential, would be a correct statement. Hats off to John for sparking it all, at least for me.

 

[fordy]

Gday
Sorry not enough time to quote everyone

Nice test york

I’m leaving the partition part alone but did laugh that’s a classic I’ve never heard before well done wilkup

Onto the tips & really it shouldn’t matter if it squishes as it has like this & what’s the reason it dosent happen with polymer as I thought they would squish a bit ( on some brands as others are brittle & bust to pieces or stay bent or to form as they were prior to impact )
Isn’t the purpose of the tip to just aid the bc component then get it out the way ( this is broadly speaking as I know most designs require it to initiate expansion so leaving that alone ) for the bullet to do its thing

Cheers

 

[wilkup]

I’m leaving the partition part alone but did laugh that’s a classic I’ve never heard before well done wilkup

I judge all hunting bullets by how they perform on game when compared to the Partition. Calling it a high BC mono Partition is the highest compliment I have to offer
@mcdil excellent work! I can’t to try them in my new rifle that’s getting built

 

[yorke-1]

Gday
Sorry not enough time to quote everyone

Nice test york

I’m leaving the partition part alone but did laugh that’s a classic I’ve never heard before well done wilkup

Onto the tips & really it shouldn’t matter if it squishes as it has like this & what’s the reason it dosent happen with polymer as I thought they would squish a bit ( on some brands as others are brittle & bust to pieces or stay bent or to form as they were prior to impact )
Isn’t the purpose of the tip to just aid the bc component then get it out the way ( this is broadly speaking as I know most designs require it to initiate expansion so leaving that alone ) for the bullet to do its thing

Cheers

I agree, it doesn’t matter what the tip does as long as it gets out of the way. I just thought it was funny since this is the first time I’ve seen an aluminum tip do that. I usually find the tips perfectly intact 2-3” into the target.

 

[Hand Skills]

I judge all hunting bullets by how they perform on game when compared to the Partition.

Same, for me the benchmark has long been 30cal 180gr Nosler Partition.

It is wonderful to see copper bullets exceeding this benchmark and offering a bigger velocity window.

One thing I noticed along the way is Partitions can really start to make a mess on impacts over 3000fps. Seems to me like that's where monos really come into their own.

 

[Petey308]

Gday
Sorry not enough time to quote everyone

Nice test york

I’m leaving the partition part alone but did laugh that’s a classic I’ve never heard before well done wilkup

Onto the tips & really it shouldn’t matter if it squishes as it has like this & what’s the reason it dosent happen with polymer as I thought they would squish a bit ( on some brands as others are brittle & bust to pieces or stay bent or to form as they were prior to impact )
Isn’t the purpose of the tip to just aid the bc component then get it out the way ( this is broadly speaking as I know most designs require it to initiate expansion so leaving that alone ) for the bullet to do its thing

Cheers

Welcome to the thread, Fordy.

Yeah, I don’t think anyone was trying to say how the tip behaves has any bearing on the terminal performance in regards to squishing, expanding, compressing, etc. I think it was just something noteworthy is all.

The tips main function is to aid in aerodynamics, yes, but then also allow for reliable and consistent initiation of expansion/deformation, but the overall effect of that also has a lot to do with other mechanisms as well. Some bullet designs do indeed work best if the tip just quickly dislodges and breaks away.

I believe the tip along with the beveled mouth, broaching, and cavity diameter and depth all work together with the Afterburner, unlike some other tipped bullets.

 

[fordy]

Gday
I think we were looking @ 2 different things as I didn’t realise you ( wilkup ) were just talking the tip so I apologise for not asking for clarification first before I posted I will also apologise if you took my comment on the partition the wrong way as I interpreted the way a partition should behave in my world & I am not talking about the tip it’s in the retained shank & im not going to go into that here as I will no doubt be labeled but for everyone’s reference a pm has been sent to mark sometime before everyone replied to me
So I’m sure mark will take on board what I said
& to clear the air I did like the partition not here to rubbish it just moved on

Thanks for the clarification petey308 & keep up the good work
Coffe break over got to go
Cheers

 

[Petey308]

New update!

Finally took a day off work just so I could get to the range and hopefully finish my load development before deer season got here first. This will be a bit of a lengthy post, but since there’s a lot of things tied to how I’m also using QuickLoad and Optimal Barrel Time in this test and thread so far, I want to include how that all affected things and turned out. So here goes.

So after my first shots with this bullet to get actual muzzle velocities with three different charge weights, I took that data and changed the Ba in QuickLoad it makes it match my actual MV. Since this bullet is a lot quicker than most, I had to change the Ba quite a bit and it made the pressures show really high, which did not reflect at all on the fired brass or with the rifle while shooting them. At the time, I decided to just ignore the pressure it was saying and trust the velocities and thus where the estimated charge weight was for the OBT node. I loaded up 15 rounds based on that, that I would shoot next to look at where the most consistent load was (the actual node).

Well, a couple weeks passed because I wasn’t able to get out to the range when I thought I was, abd during that time I had plenty of time for it to eat at me that those pressures weren’t right lol. So, I went back and redid my initial QL work up because I was thinking about it more and more, and I just thought I must have done something wrong before. The pressures in QL were showing like well above 64,000-66,000psi, even though I know it couldn't have actually been that high based on all the other evidence and signs.

So I took my range data from last time again and played with the Ba (powder burn rate) in QL some more, along with the weighting factor, and actually got velocities and pressures looking WAY better and matching up well with what I got. That in turn changed the predicted charge weight for the OBT node though.

The MV data during my initial range trip showed single digit SD/ES at 42.0gr and now my new predictions showed 42.05gr was bang-on right a good node. So that made me feel pretty confident in that being accurate now too since the previous data reflected that as a real possibility. My previous QL predictions said 42.8gr as the estimated node and that's what I had loaded up already to shoot a couple weeks ago, when I didn't end up getting to go. In hindsight, it’s good that trip didn't work out lol.

I ended up pulling all 15 of those loads and charges I had made already, and redid them. I was confident enough in what I had now too that I only loaded 12 rounds total, instead of the 15 I had before. I did three at 41.8gr, three at 42.0gr, three at 42.2gr and then I decided if it was where I was thinking, I kinda wanted to look at 42.1gr too, so I loaded three of those as well lol.

I was kind of dumb though, by not bringing anything to warm up the barrel and get the cold bore out of the way, so the first batch at 41.8gr I think appeared worse than it likely really is/was. Also, all of them were shooting faster today than last time (compared to the initial velocities I got at similar or the same charge weight), and thus also faster than QL estimated. That didn't seem to affect the node though. Here are the results:

2nd round Afterburner test

41.8gr

1- 2923
2- 2985
3- 2992
Avg- 2966
SD- 37
ES- 69
QL Estimated- 2944fps

42.0gr

1- 2988
2- 3003
3- 2984
Avg- 2991
SD- 10
ES- 19
QL Estimated- 2957fps

42.2gr

1- 3007
2- 3016
3- 3006
Avg- 3009
SD- 5
ES- 10
QL Estimated- 2969fps


**Extra:

42.1gr

1- 2996
2- 2995
3- 2993
Avg- 2994
SD- 1
ES- 3
QL Estimated- 2963fps

So after all that, I decided 42.1gr was the clear winner. I had two touching on the 100 yard group, and one that I pulled . I was shooting terribly today, but luckily velocities were what I was after, and not so much groups (although I wanted both lol).

Also, I think the second shot at 42.0gr was just a weird one, regarding the velocity. Something might have been different with the brass on that one, or who knows, but I think it was more of a fluke being that high on MV. That's one of the things that sucks about doing only 3 shots per charge, but I'm trying to preserve components lol. I'd much rather do 5-10 shots per charge weight, but that eats up components really quick lol. I feel confident in my methods and my loading skills though to be able to work with just three, but unfortunately you sometimes still get those anomalies.

I also brought everything with me to the range that I needed in order to load up more rounds so I could either check a different charge weight if needed, or to load more of whichever one won so that I could zero my scope to it. Since I was confident 42.1gr was it, I loaded up 3 more and with those three I got my scope zeroed spot on at 100 yards, and that was it- done at the range and in less 2 hours total, including target setup and setting up the mobile reloading bench lol.

I ended up with a fully developed load, and zeroed, in just 25 shots total. Not too bad. Thank you QuickLoad and the Long Family lol. So you can see how useful this system is.

I'll call this load 3000fps since it only averaged 6fps under lol. I'm happy with that lol. Oh, and these are loaded with small rifle primer Peterson brass, for whatever that's worth.

So now I'll load up at least 10 rounds sometime between tomorrow and Friday for the season. That ought to be more than enough lol. The first, of two, youth seasons is this weekend. Both my boys have soccer games Saturday, and the land owner might be harvesting, so we'll see if we actually get out there or not. If we don't get out this weekend, November 12th is opening day for the main season.

I went out after the range trip and put up some cameras. Jumped three deer right around my stand. So that's a good sign lol. Hopefully the next update is actually terminal performance!

 

[Jonoton]

Not speaking from a particularly knowledgeable level of experience with reloading at this level, but this seems like a master class in analysis and load development; absolutely incredible.

 

[Petey308]

Not speaking from a particularly knowledgeable level of experience with reloading at this level, but this seems like a master class in analysis and load development; absolutely incredible.

There’s a reason my business is called “Ammosmithing” .

 

[wilkup]

New update!

Finally took a day off work just so I could get to the range and hopefully finish my load development before deer season got here first. This will be a bit of a lengthy post, but since there’s a lot of things tied to how I’m also using QuickLoad and Optimal Barrel Time in this test and thread so far, I want to include how that all affected things and turned out. So here goes.

So after my first shots with this bullet to get actual muzzle velocities with three different charge weights, I took that data and changed the Ba in QuickLoad it makes it match my actual MV. Since this bullet is a lot quicker than most, I had to change the Ba quite a bit and it made the pressures show really high, which did not reflect at all on the fired brass or with the rifle while shooting them. At the time, I decided to just ignore the pressure it was saying and trust the velocities and thus where the estimated charge weight was for the OBT node. I loaded up 15 rounds based on that, that I would shoot next to look at where the most consistent load was (the actual node).

Well, a couple weeks passed because I wasn’t able to get out to the range when I thought I was, abd during that time I had plenty of time for it to eat at me that those pressures weren’t right lol. So, I went back and redid my initial QL work up because I was thinking about it more and more, and I just thought I must have done something wrong before. The pressures in QL were showing like well above 64,000-66,000psi, even though I know it couldn't have actually been that high based on all the other evidence and signs.

So I took my range data from last time again and played with the Ba (powder burn rate) in QL some more, along with the weighting factor, and actually got velocities and pressures looking WAY better and matching up well with what I got. That in turn changed the predicted charge weight for the OBT node though.

The MV data during my initial range trip showed single digit SD/ES at 42.0gr and now my new predictions showed 42.05gr was bang-on right a good node. So that made me feel pretty confident in that being accurate now too since the previous data reflected that as a real possibility. My previous QL predictions said 42.8gr as the estimated node and that's what I had loaded up already to shoot a couple weeks ago, when I didn't end up getting to go. In hindsight, it’s good that trip didn't work out lol.

I ended up pulling all 15 of those loads and charges I had made already, and redid them. I was confident enough in what I had now too that I only loaded 12 rounds total, instead of the 15 I had before. I did three at 41.8gr, three at 42.0gr, three at 42.2gr and then I decided if it was where I was thinking, I kinda wanted to look at 42.1gr too, so I loaded three of those as well lol.

I was kind of dumb though, by not bringing anything to warm up the barrel and get the cold bore out of the way, so the first batch at 41.8gr I think appeared worse than it likely really is/was. Also, all of them were shooting faster today than last time (compared to the initial velocities I got at similar or the same charge weight), and thus also faster than QL estimated. That didn't seem to affect the node though. Here are the results:

2nd round Afterburner test

41.8gr

1- 2923
2- 2985
3- 2992
Avg- 2966
SD- 37
ES- 69
QL Estimated- 2944fps

42.0gr

1- 2988
2- 3003
3- 2984
Avg- 2991
SD- 10
ES- 19
QL Estimated- 2957fps

42.2gr

1- 3007
2- 3016
3- 3006
Avg- 3009
SD- 5
ES- 10
QL Estimated- 2969fps


**Extra:

42.1gr

1- 2996
2- 2995
3- 2993
Avg- 2994
SD- 1
ES- 3
QL Estimated- 2963fps

So after all that, I decided 42.1gr was the clear winner. I had two touching on the 100 yard group, and one that I pulled . I was shooting terribly today, but luckily velocities were what I was after, and not so much groups (although I wanted both lol).

Also, I think the second shot at 42.0gr was just a weird one, regarding the velocity. Something might have been different with the brass on that one, or who knows, but I think it was more of a fluke being that high on MV. That's one of the things that sucks about doing only 3 shots per charge, but I'm trying to preserve components lol. I'd much rather do 5-10 shots per charge weight, but that eats up components really quick lol. I feel confident in my methods and my loading skills though to be able to work with just three, but unfortunately you sometimes still get those anomalies.

I also brought everything with me to the range that I needed in order to load up more rounds so I could either check a different charge weight if needed, or to load more of whichever one won so that I could zero my scope to it. Since I was confident 42.1gr was it, I loaded up 3 more and with those three I got my scope zeroed spot on at 100 yards, and that was it- done at the range and in less 2 hours total, including target setup and setting up the mobile reloading bench lol.

I ended up with a fully developed load, and zeroed, in just 25 shots total. Not too bad. Thank you QuickLoad and the Long Family lol. So you can see how useful this system is.

I'll call this load 3000fps since it only averaged 6fps under lol. I'm happy with that lol. Oh, and these are loaded with small rifle primer Peterson brass, for whatever that's worth.

So now I'll load up at least 10 rounds sometime between tomorrow and Friday for the season. That ought to be more than enough lol. The first, of two, youth seasons is this weekend. Both my boys have soccer games Saturday, and the land owner might be harvesting, so we'll see if we actually get out there or not. If we don't get out this weekend, November 12th is opening day for the main season.

I went out after the range trip and put up some cameras. Jumped three deer right around my stand. So that's a good sign lol. Hopefully the next update is actually terminal performance!

You’re an artist with this development @Petey308